I want to share some additional context. The murder of #Nahel is part of a long history of colonial violence against Algerians stretching back to the early 1800s. In 1961, French police killed over 100 French Arabs who were peacefully protesting in Paris. bbc.com/news/world-afr… Tens of thousands of people had been marching in support of Algerian independence and in protest of a curfew that had been imposed (something that's being debated in France now). In response, police slaughtered Algerians in the streets and drowned protesters in the river Seine +

For those just catching up:

1. French police murdered a 17 y.o in broad daylight during a traffic stop
2. As we see in the US, police lied, accused the youth of trying to run over a cop
3. Media reported police lies as facts
4. Cell phone video showed an extrajudicial execution 5. During protests, another French police officer was captured on video telling a woman to "Go back to Africa"
6. In recent years, French politician, including Macron, have aggressively denied the existence of systemic racism in France and imposed a police state

Not me about to go down this rabbit hole.. So... I'm learning that contemporaneous African American reactions to the Titanic sinking were predictably classed: middle-class observers and the Black press took great pains to express condolences. Booker T. Washington himself (of course) reached out to President Taft..

One really remarkable thing is that even though students in my in-person course this semester did not *have* to come to class (we had a flexible attendance policy) most of them did. And it was a THEORY course. Not known for being riveting. But they seemed to be genuinely into it. Taking notes from many of you on here who are also interested in compassionate pedagogy, I implemented a flex attendance policy this fall that, in principle, allowed students to miss every single class without explanation and still get a C range grade.

The absolute worst part about teaching is the same as its been since the start of this pandemic: students and TAs getting COVID. Trying myself not to get COVID (again). Figuring out how to structure class policies knowing that people and their loved ones are going to get COVID.. The only thing that makes sense to me is creating a very flex syllabus and modeling COVID mitigation above and beyond what’s required by my employer. I teach in a KN95 even though my campus does not require masking. I bring an air filter to class, sanitize teaching equipment..

I'm still feeling my way through how to teach in an ongoing and increasingly ignored pandemic. I don't have the answers but I think some pedagogical changes I made this semester have made a big difference for me and my students.. One thing I'm doing is leaning into student-centered learning and giving students more choices. For my big racism course, I gave everyone the choice between a final paper and a Powerpoint presentation. Students could also choose whether to submit an audio/video file for extra pts

Context: I started keynoting while still an assistant prof, invested in building presenting skills, built a very successful speaking business over ~5 years through tenure and two promotions, have worked with multiple speaking bureaus, currently represented by @outspokenagency + have organized many conferences and colloquia as a graduate student at a wealthy uni (Harvard) and at my current R-1 public institution, have a successful track record of fundraising for outside speakers, especially globally majority folks, activists, WOC..

But please know.. literally no one is getting rich off of *traditional* academic honoraria in the US. These are designed to be token payments for already wealthy/privileged people because of ongoing histories of elitism, exploitation and exclusion in academia. Once/if you get above the traditional range for a typical Department/program talk ($0-$250, sadly, or if you're lucky, $500) then you're in the realm of academic stars. Above $1000? You're getting into the territory of professional/keynote speaking for larger audiences.

I see the honoraria discourse is back from hell, so two quick things:

1) Most academics have never been paid to speak about anything. This heavily shapes the relevant discourse and norms.

2) There’s a difference between a departmental talk and a university/college wide keynote. Many Departments offer $0-$500 for a research talk. Because most academics are not regularly paid to speak, this norm remains intact. Also reevant: the typical academic with no professional speaking experience whatsoever does not merit thousands of dollars for a one hour talk.

It's striking to realize that the white supremacist myth of the "happy slave" co-existed with white supremacist laws explicitly designed to prevent slave rebellions. Whites knew perfectly well that enslaved people hated slavery and used every tool at their disposal to oppress. The law, of course, was/is one of the primary tools used by white people to uphold their power. The very first anti-literacy statue in what would become the US actually predates the founding of the nation. South Carolina's Act of 1740 banned teaching enslaved people to write +

Making a commitment to begin the morning with meditation and yoga no matter how much work I have, no matter how stressed I feel, no matter how behind with deadlines I am has been my best decision in recent memory. It means I begin each day by choosing myself, over and over again. It also means that I begin the day by remembering that I actually have a body, building my capacity for somatic awareness. I learn what feels good, what feels tight or painful, where I'm out of alignment. I adjust and give myself the support I need. It's a very loving practice.

Don't sleep on blogging.. I was a virtually unknown writer when I started blogging, with no social media platform to speak of, no books published. And yet somehow people found my posts and gave me blogging awards and helped me build a little community. It was quaint and lovely.

I understand why people are leaving, locking accounts and so on. But please know this is the intended effect. He wants to create chaos in the direction of fascism, amplify right wing dudebros with their hateful rhetoric and, in so doing, silence progressive and liberal voices. Taking off my (non-existent) programmer hat and putting on a sociological lens: we know with some degree of certainty some of what will happen Monday. 1/ Verification will no longer exist. Blue checks will have nothing to do with verified identities. Fake accounts will multiply +

I just learned that Clarence Thomas once identified as a "radical", embraced Black nationalism, claims to have supported the Black Panthers and apparently still views whites (including his wife?) as permanently racist.. ..Thomas has also been a lifelong racial separatist and remains a staunch critic of integration..

I will say the thing that convinced me that getting the vaccine was a question of when—not if—was learning more about the longterm chronic symptoms and disabilities associated with the disease which are even more likely and widespread than the also-worrisome risk death. Among other things, learning that you can lose your ability to enjoy food was a wrap for me.. This bish literally lives to eat. What we’re not gonna do is fuck around with the taste buds..

It looks like herd immunity isn’t in the cards even with expanding vaccinations. “[We] may find ourselves months or a year down the road still battling the threat, and having to deal with future surges..” nature.com/articles/d4158… “The whole point is to break the transmission path..limiting social contact and continuing.. behaviours such as masking can help.. reduce the spread of new variants while vaccines are rolling out. But it’s going to be hard to stop people reverting to pre-pandemic behaviour.” Yup.

Talked with Black faculty, admin and staff today about avoiding what I call “BSDEI” — bullshit diversity, equity and inclusion work. You have to discern which initiatives are worth your time and you can’t do that on your own. You need community and consultation with other BIPOC.. I also hear a lot of confusion around the question of whether and when Black people should turn up to time wasting BSDEI events. Well, it’s a strategic choice. You should make intentional decisions based on your agenda and energy level. Refusing participation can be very healing.

What people fail to recognize is that the mere presence of a Black person within a historically white institution gets read as magically transforming a racist space into a non-racist (or even *benevolent*) environment precisely due to the *depth* of antiblack racism.. Centuries of white supremacist ideology and antiblack oppression have produced a society in which Blacks are so despised that many whites believe they deserve a Nobel prize for deigning to tolerate the presence of people they were taught to view as inferior in "their" space..

Faculty should condemn university efforts to put us back in the classroom before it's proven safe to return. We are nowhere near herd immunity, there is no clear vaccination schedule for most of us and we have no clarity yet as to whether students will be vaccinated by the fall.. We also don't know the extent to which the current vaccine will protect against the variant(s) which will soon be dominant. There are ongoing reports teachers and faculty dying as a result of teaching in person while campus admin are trying to normalize and monetize these deaths.

My sense is that clearing up myths about how power operates within what is perceived as material reality is still very much a spiritual practice, in no small part because dismantling oppression opens up greater opportunities for human flourishing (including spiritual liberation). I think an honest appraisal of material and sociohistorical reality is inextricably linked to the internal work of liberation. We cannot transcend that which we refuse to acknowledge. We cannot see through or beyond that which we refuse to witness and perceive in the first place.

Do you know the meaning behind the carefully chosen symbols in this iconic photo? Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman amplified human rights, Black power, pride, unity and interracial class solidarity in one of the most powerful protests in history. 100photos.time.com/photos/john-do… Tommie Smith: "The right glove..signified the power in black America. The left glove my teammate John Carlos wore..made an arc..signifying black unity. The scarf..around my neck signified blackness.. [We] wore socks, black socks, without shoes, to also signify our poverty.”